


From our Family to Yours

by Madame_Xela



Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, And Sass, Babies, Christmas Advent, Christmas Fluff, Cloud and Squall are good dads, Domestic Fluff, F/F, F/M, Gen, I will go down with this au, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, Vanitas isn't a dick, a little ooc, ff kh fusion, first strifehart fic yay!, i can't believe it's taken me so long, just a sassy seven year old prone to anxiety from time to time, somehow it turned to strifehart and their five kids, squall and laguna don't have the best relationship, this is so self indulgent guys, this was supposed to be just strifehart fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-16 03:46:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16946376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madame_Xela/pseuds/Madame_Xela
Summary: 13 connected, but not necessarily chronological one shots of the Strifehart fam up until Christmas





	1. Day 1: Ugly Sweaters

**Author's Note:**

> So I have to admit that I've never finished ff8 because the copy i had was bugged as fuck (i'm talking areas not loading, my characters freezing or getting caught on objects and causing me to restart the game (LAGUNA)) and I've never gotten around to buying a different copy. I have some basic knowledge, but it's probably not 100% accurate. Go easy on me

“Take it off.”

“Wow, you didn’t even buy me dinner first.” Cloud sighs as he hikes the oldest triplet, Sora, higher onto his hip. It was a vain effort as the baby just ended up contorting his body to do as he wanted. Which was to press the button at the bottom of the blond’s sweater.

A high pitched, overplayed holiday tune filled the room. Cloud’s sweater glowed and flashed in time with the music (Ironically, the only part of his ridiculous attire that didn’t light up was the embroidered words that read ‘It’s Lit’). Sora found the whole thing hilarious, giving long belly cackles that had his parents smiling at him, and proceeded to press the button again once the music ended.

“Why would you even think that god-awful thing was a good idea? We have three young kids who love anything bright, loud, and obnoxious.” Cloud smirks-a truly terrifying image that involved _far_ more teeth than should be allowed.

“Don’t worry Squall, you don’t have to be jealous. I got you one too. And some for the kids.” No. Squall’s mouth dropped opened in shock. This couldn’t be happening! “I was thinking that we could all wear them and take our Christmas card pictures.”

…

This was a punishment for something.

It _had_ to be. Cloud was smart enough to keep all the obnoxious decorations well out of reach of their youngest children...so why did he buy the loudest (both figuratively and literally) sweater he could find?

Squall racked his brain, going through every conversation and action from the last few days that he could clearly remember, but for the life of him he couldn’t pinpoint what it was he had done to deserve this cruelty.

He almost didn’t notice little Xion’s hands slapping against the hardwood as she crawled to him. He _definitely_ noticed the onslaught of music as her knees hit the button on her sweater. “Da!” She reached for him, and even though she was wearing an illuminated monstrosity that had no right calling itself a sweater she was still the cutest damn kid he’d ever seen. He scooped her up into one arm, placing a kiss to her dark tufts of hair.

“Oh Xion you poor thing, what did Daddy do to you?”

Xion grinned, all gums and drool. She was having the time of her life in her musical shirt and was undoubtedly less offended by the object than he was. “Dadada!”

“I know, he’s got questionable taste. (-”I keep you around so, yeah.”-) _Wow_. Xion, Daddy’s mean. Let’s go get you changed into something less...gaudy and then we’ll find some nicer company.” Non-festive company preferably. The boys were in the dining room doing their homework (supposedly sweater-free. They'd be annoying the hell out of each other if they weren't.), and Roxas was still napping.

 _Surely_ one of his other children hadn’t turned on him yet-maybe he could get them on his side before Cloud bribed them with bright lights and catchy tunes...

But before he could leave the room Cloud called his name in a tone far too cocky to be comforting.

“Guess who I found out _hates_ sweaters like these. _Specifically_ the ones that play music.” Oh lord. There was only _one_ person on the planet that could garner that kind of malicious reaction from Cloud.

“ _Sephiroth_ .” Squall sighed. Because wasn’t it _always_ that silver-haired bastard’s fault?

“Well...yeah, but he hates anything fun. This one’s _better_.”

Who was more fun to irritate than Sephiroth? Xion seemed just as confused as he was. They shared a look that consisted of a few slow blinks that were probably too intelligent for a nine month old. He tilted his head to the side and she copied.

Irvine? Zell? Too easy to be _that_ fun.

Selphie? Cloud wouldn’t...or would he?

Vincent lived too close for them to be safe after…

Rufus would retaliate with something more annoying and more garish.

Was it Seifer? Oh god...

“Do you give up?”

“Hn.”

“ _Laguna_.”

Squall froze. There was no way…

No way that Laguna, who was obnoxiously cheerful by nature, who put up a tree the size of their freaking _house_ , who tried dressing up as Santa for the kids a few years back (and scaring the shit out of them, but that’s a story for another day), hated ugly christmas sweaters. That was the kind of over-the-top shit that was right up his Father’s alley. 

As if sensing his denial, Cloud’s grin got impossibly wider. “Reno, Rude, Rufus, _and_ _Rinoa_ can all confirm-they were the ones that told me.” Reno he could believe would bullshit something like this, even Rufus to some extent...but for Rude and Rinoa to also…

 _Holy shit._  

“And...your first response to hearing that was to go to the store and buy all of us the ugliest sweaters possible to take what...a video?” When Cloud nodded with that vicious grin still on his lips, Squall had to physically restrain himself from crushing them together. If it weren’t for the babies in their arms he would have already pinned Cloud to the counter.

He _did_ end up pressing their lips together in a bruising kiss, only pulling away when Sora slapped their cheeks for attention. “I love you so fucking much. 

“I know. Your sweater’s on the bed.”

“I'll go get the camera.”


	2. Day 2: Shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this while coming off of a caffeine high at 1 am, just as a warning, lol. 
> 
> Also a few cameos in this chapter from FF I didn't tag! :D

They had three hours, give or take, to get as much shopping done as possible.

In three and a half hours, Vanitas and Ventus would be home from school. Oh sure Aerith and Zack could keep them entertained for a bit, but those little basta- _tykes_ were too curious for their own good. Once they saw their fathers bringing in shopping bags that didn’t contain food they’d start asking questions. And telling them that they couldn’t look inside them was really just _asking_ for trouble.

And hopefully, once they got back home, the triplets would be down for a nap. No ankle biters...well...biting ankles, would make bringing in and hiding the presents even easier-

...they just had to get their shopping _done_ , and as quick as possible.

It _was_ possible. Squall had spent hours thinking and planning- he even made a _chart_ for efficiency. All they had to do was follow it and they’d be in and out of this holiday-themed death trap before you could say ‘humbug.’

...Which was how he and Cloud found themselves in a store that was most certainly _not_ on his chart, debating over which novelty items were better suited for Zack.

“Listen, if we get him a book filled with Dad jokes we’ll never get a moment of peace for the rest of our lives. And we have _five_ kids, Squall. That’s saying something.”

“I hear you, I really do. But I’m not going to buy him a shirt that says ‘My sword is Bigger than yours’. That’s the only thing he’s ever going to wear for the rest of his life, and I’m not going to be inadvertently responsible for Aerith dying from the stench.”

“Consider this though, if he finds a joke he really likes, he’s going to call us-no matter what time it is-just to tell it to us.”

That was a very valid point. One that he countered by telling Cloud about this wonderful setting on their phones called ‘Silent Mode’. “If you get him that awful shirt then he’s going to wear it to the house. If he wears it to the house then you two are going to get into a pissing contest over whose ‘sword’ is bigger, and I’m going to have to be the responsible one and break you two up by telling you that my sword is obviously the biggest and this process will repeat _every time_ -debate over.”

Cloud makes the ugliest snort, lightly punching Squall’s bicep. “If that’s what you have to tell yourself to help you sleep at night, Leonhart.”

They end up purchasing both items. Clearly they were gluttons for punishment.

At that point, Squall’s chart was useless. Twenty-seven minutes spent in a store that they hadn’t planned on had thrown _everything_ off. They walked down the length of the mall with their arms hooked at the elbow and a bag or two hanging off their other ones.

They saw a lot of interesting people during their walk.

There was a silver haired boy-a little older than the triplets-who had jumped from the arms of a blonde woman to toddle after another woman with hair similar to his own, all the while yelling ‘Mama!’. They watched with matching barely-there-smiles as the silver haired woman swept up the toddler and tossed him up into the air before pressing a smacking kiss to his cheek. When the blonde woman (her wife?) got close enough, she grabbed the zipper of her yellow jacket and tugged her into an actual kiss. One that turned into seven and had both women grinning as they separated-though that could have been because they both had lip gloss (lipstick? What was the difference?) smeared around their mouths.

Reno’s baby brother Lea (and a good friend of the twins) was out shopping with his mother-a woman named Fang. He waved at them and excitedly told them about how he was going to meet up with his Best Friend Isa and his sister Aqua for lunch-and could Van and Ven _please_ join them next time? Oh! Could they have a big sleepover instead? Just not at Isa’s house because Mister Seymour wasn’t a fan of parties-plus you make the _best_ pancakes Mister Cloud!

A little while later they saw a redheaded man in an... _interesting_ outfit walking around with two babies tucked into slings on his chest-a blonde baby and one with the same red hair he had. He was talking very loudly on the phone to someone named Gil-because he _really_ needed a special gift for Luna. It was only fair after all, as she had _so generously_ carried the girls for them when they needed a surrogate. (It definitely sounded like the man was bragging, but the Leonharts couldn’t really blame him. When Van and Ven were born they had proudly showed off the boys to all their friends-they just weren’t as...in your face about it. [They did mentally thank the man though, because he reminded them that they needed to get Rinoa an extra special gift as an apology for having to spend the previous Christmas confined to a bed.])

By far though, the weirdest group they had seen was a bald man leading an entourage of silver haired children as if they were ducklings. What the fuck?

Shopping did get done...eventually. Luckily, or unluckily, they got the rest of the shopping that they needed to do for the kids done. Most of the shopping for their friends and family was finished too- _and_ they managed to get plenty of rolls of ribbons and wrapping paper, _and_ some Christmas Eve pajamas for the kids! Damn, they were really ahead with this shopping thing!

...it just took an extra two and a half hours more than what Squall had planned.


	3. Day 3: Playing in the snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean to miss two days, I've been sick and very busy with Christmas prep. You'll either get two chapters today and two tomorrow, or three today, it depends on how fast I can write

When the call came at six am that school was cancelled, Squall almost cried. Whether it was in relief or despair had yet to be determined.

He had rolled over, telling Cloud that they didn’t have to bother waking the older boys for school. The blonde made a mildly horrified noise, though his sleepy state made it sound more like a dying toad. 

“ _ Great _ .” 

They had both been deluded enough to think that no school meant an extra hour or so of sleep for them. Wishful thinking when one had two seven year olds and three nine month olds. Sleep could almost be classified as a myth in their household.

It would forever be a mystery to Squall why Ven and Van would sleep like the dead when they had school, but were up with the sun on days they had off. Needless to say, it shouldn’t have come to a surprise when Vanitas crawled into their bed not twenty minutes later. 

“ _ Daaaaad _ !” 

Nope. Not happening. It was too early for that. Squall wrapped his arms around their oldest and pulled him into the space between him and Cloud. “Go back to sleep Van. No school today.”

“...Can we play outside in the snow today?”

“If you go back to sleep.” Cloud mumbled from the other side of the bed.

“...Okay.” 

Ten minutes after that it was Ventus crawling into the bed. Not to wake them up it seemed, but because he was looking for company (though they fought a lot, the twins were rarely without one another, and had a scarily accurate sixth sense for when the other was gone). He curled up against Cloud’s side and fell back asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. 

All was well and quiet for a grand total of fifteen minutes. Ven and Cloud were quietly snoring, Van was reluctantly slipping back into sleep’s warm embrace, and Squall believed that he could get some well deserved rest. 

Then Sora’s cries could be heard both over the baby monitor and from down the hall. 

“Oh for fu-”

“I got him.” Cloud yawned. He stretched, detangling himself from their blond octopus, before making his way out of the bedroom, hissing as his bare feet hit the hardwood. The chuckle that escaped Squall was involuntary, honest. He’d never  _ intentionally  _ laugh at the blond’s (mild) suffering while he was tucked in the nice warm bed (with a foot digging into his ribs, but nothing’s perfect); that would be  _ mean _ . 

Cloud’s soft voice could be heard over the monitor as he said ‘Good Morning’ to Sora and Xion-apparently she was awake too, she just hadn’t bothered making any noise. 

_ ‘There, clean diapers. Let’s go see Dada and your brothers, hm? We’ll let Roxas sleep a little longer.’  _ With the grace and ease of a man who had done it a thousand times before, Cloud came back into the bedroom with a baby perched in each arm. Sora and Xion were quiet, sleepy even, until they noticed who was on the bed. They turned into bouncing little monsters, making Cloud’s face scrunch up in pain. 

“Da!” Xion, the only one of the triplets who could speak, shrieked. “Dadadadada!” 

The older kids groaned, trying to shove their faces under the pillows.

“Good Morning Xion.” Squall accepted both babies without complaint, even though they were practically dumped onto his stomach. “So I take it sleeping in is out of the question?” 

Cloud was on the other side of the bedroom pulling on a sweatshirt and giving him a look. Not the kind of heated looks that held promises for later, but a look that shouted ‘Yes, you idiot’. “Unless you’d rather keep those hungry little monsters in bed. But I for one would rather feed them and get on with the day.”

That was a good point...hungry babies were scary babies. They put  _ everything  _ in their mouths, including Squall’s hair and fingers. “Right...Breakfast it is...you two comin’? Or are you staying in bed all day?” He asked the boys.

They let out twin (Ha!) groans. Vanitas was the only one who actually got up, sliding off the bed and dragging his feet down the hall like a fearsome zombie (as fearsome as one could get in spongebob pajamas). 

“I want waffles for breakfast.” He tried to say, though it came out as ‘i wn wfls f bkfst’ it was amazing how he could say words without using vowels. The adults shared an amused look over his head as he trudged by. 

“What do we say when we want something, Van?” Cloud asked. 

“...I want waffles for breakfast  _ please _ .” 

“...We’ll work on it.”

Cloud and Vanitas take off towards the kitchen, leaving Squall alone with the two hungry babies and a half asleep Ventus. “We’ll be downstairs, okay Ven? Come down when you’re ready.”

In typical ‘like father like son’ fashion, Ventus’s response sounded more like a dying animal rather than human speak. 

“I’ll try to save you some waffles.” 

*

If Squall had to pick a sight that he’d never tire of, it would probably be Cloud leaning against the counter in an oversized sweatshirt (that he more than likely stole from Squall’s side of the closet at some point) as he held two cups of coffee in his hands. Truly it was the loveliest sight in the world. No, it wasn’t  _ just  _ because one of those cups was made the way Squall liked it. He was quite fond of the man who made it, too.

Cloud helped him strap the babies into their highchairs before handing him his cup of caffeinated goodness. 

“Sleeping beauty need five more minutes?” 

Squall deliberately waited for his husband to take a sip of his coffee before he nodded. “Mm hmm. He said and I quote…” Squall inhaled, making a god-awful screech that caused the babies to burst into hysterics and Cloud to choke. 

Van’s dark head popped out from the pantry. “Ven’s a dinosaur?!”

“I’m afraid so.” Squall nodded somberly. 

Never before had Van looked so offended. “ _ I  _ want to be a dinosaur…” The seven year old handed a box of waffle mix to Squall with a pout. 

“Spend more time with Daddy and you will be.” Vanitas gave his blond father a betrayed look. Because how could he make Ven a dinosaur but  _ not  _ Van? He trudged over to his seat at the table to sulk, stopping to feed each baby a small bit of banana (because the bananas were going to get brown and gross if they didn’t hurry up and eat them!) . “My god Cloud, how could you.” Squall gasped. 

“I'm the worst parent ever.” Cloud agreed. “Even though it's really  _ your  _ fault, but whatever.”

Making the waffles was quick and easy. Especially when his little helpers were too tired or too busy eating to bother helping. By the time he had the fourth one in the iron Ventus was walking into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. 

“Daddy, Roxy's awake.” He yawned, climbing into his seat next to his twin and accepting a glass of juice. 

“Thanks Ven, I'll go get him.” 

Cloud left, and even though most of their kids were in the kitchen it was nice and quiet. Until Van started asking why Ven was a dinosaur. Cue one very passionate argument and a very vocal existential crisis. 

It was far too early for this. Squall hadn’t even finished his first cup of coffee!

“If you two don't knock it off I'm going to find some extra schoolwork for you to do instead of playing outside.”

“Dinosaurs don't have to do homework, dad.” Duh,  _ everyone _ knew that.

“They don't get banana waffles either.”

Oh the  _ horror _ ! It was almost comical how quickly Ven decided that he didn’t want to be a dino anymore-now could he  _ please  _ get those waffles Dad? He’s  _ starving _ ! Wasting away to nothing! 

“You’re just going to have to wait, Ven. I’m almost done.” He swapped out a cooked waffle with more batter, then grabbed his coffee mug and downed the rest of its contents in one gulp. He had it refilled with steamy coffee long before the iron dinged again. 

Cloud returns with his second clone (seriously, it was scary how much Ven and Roxas looked like him!) grumpily blinking at the room around them. It’s tough being a baby, you know. Things were constantly working against you. Like how time had the  _ audacity  _ to pass and rouse him from his sleep-or how they needed the bright lights to see on such a gloomy day-or how Cloud  _ dared  _ to put him in his highchair so he could  _ eat _ . Thank goodness Roxas was such a champ and faced all these difficulties with only grumpy looks and huffy noises. 

“Well Good Morning sunshine.” Squall bent to press a kiss to Roxas’s bed head as he placed the plate of finished waffles onto the table. Roxas huffed. “I know, mornings should start in the afternoon. I agree, Roxas.”

Roxas showed his consensus by mashing a bit of banana in his fist and stuffing it into his mouth. Truly the wisest of them all. 

The twins and Cloud tore into the waffles. Squall was a  _ little  _ more dignified in his approach, choosing to y’know, actually cut his breakfast into bite-sized pieces rather than shove it all in his mouth at once. 

Everyone was quiet, if you didn’t count the loud smacking of chewing with their mouths open. It was nice, they didn’t often get to enjoy breakfast like this. During the week the twins were never up early enough so sit down and have breakfast with their parents, and Cloud wasn’t always home in the mornings on the weekends. Call him sappy, but Squall  _ lived  _ for moments like these. 

A soft clack of Cloud’s mug being placed on the table drew the brunet from his thoughts. 

“You know,” Cloud started, his voice no longer held the tired lilt but still the soft timbre he usually spoke in. “it’s snowing out.”

Squall loved his husband, really he did. But sometimes...sometimes Cloud  _ really did  _ make him question everything. “Yes.” Squall replied, slowly. “That’s why the kids are here and not at school. Remember, we got a phone call bright and early this morning?” 

Cloud rolled his gorgeous blue eyes like the asshole he was. “I  _ know  _ that, but did  _ you  _ know that this is the first time that the babies have seen snow?” 

That, Squall would admit, he did  _ not  _ know...although he probably should have known. The babies were born in late march, after the snowy season left and made way for the temperate months of spring. This would be the first time they’d see the white fluffy hellscape that was snow. 

This would be either really funny, or really disastrous. 

Vanitas slapped his hands against the table, ignoring the reprimand he received. “ _ Dad _ ! We  _ have  _ to play outside now! And we  _ have  _ to record it!”

“Van, for the last time, we aren’t starting a youtube channel.”

“Well...fine, but don’t you think Aunty Rinoa would want to see it?”   


“Yeah, and Aunty Aerith and Uncle Zack.” Ven added. 

“Oh! AuntTiffy! And Aunt Yuffie.”

“And Uncle Cid! And Uncle-”

“-Okay okay, we get it. You have a lot of Aunts and Uncles who will be really mad at us if we don’t record it.” Squall rubbed at his temples, though a smile tugged at his lips. 

Cloud didn’t even bother to hide his smile. “I guess you guys need to hurry up and finish breakfast.”

*

_ ‘Is it working?’ A nostril filled the majority of the screen. _

_ A chuckle comes from somewhere behind the camera. ‘I don’t know Van, did you hit the button?’ _

_ ‘Yes! Oh! It’s working, here Dad.’ The audio is a loud mess of staticy nonsense and the screen showed nothing but blurs as the phone was handed over to it’s newest victim.  _

_ ‘I see how it is, I have to do all the work.’ Squall’s voice is still behind the camera, louder. The phone was pointed at Vanitas who, in all his red and puffy winter-wear glory, grinned up at him with a gap-toothed smile.  _

_ ‘Yeah!’ _

_ Ven’s blue hat filled the entirety of the screen. ‘Plus you’re the tallest one Dad!’  _

_ ‘I’m glad my height designates me as the family cameraman.’ The twins nod sagely. _

_ ‘Are you three done?’ The camera moves too quickly; fast enough to make the viewer nauseous. Cloud stood in the doorway in a black peacoat, hat, and knitted monstrosity that Aerith tried calling a scarf. In his arms were three over-bundled balls of fluff-er-babies. Sora kicked his booted feet, ready to go. ‘Shall I unleash the beasts?’  _

_ When the twins cheered Cloud fully stepped outside, kneeling so each baby was only inches off the ground.  _

_ ‘Three...two...one.’ He placed the babies onto the snow and...a lot happened.  _

_ Xion thought it was delightful. She pat the snow in front of her and even managed to grab a little with her mittens. It melted before she could eat it, but that didn’t deter her. She tried again, reaching as far as her little arms could reach to grab the strange substance. _

_ Roxas was...indifferent at first. He was the most weary of the three, staring at the falling snow as it fell from the sky like he wasn’t sure of it’s purpose. All was well until Xion accidentally knocked him face-first into the snow. He didn’t cry, but he didn’t like it either.  _

_ Sora surprised them. Out of the three, they had thought that he would  _ love  _ the snow. But the second his knees hit the cold ground he started screaming. Fat tears and snot ran down his face as he howled, reaching for Squall.  _

_ ‘Oh shi-’ _

_ * _

Squall put his phone in his coat pocket without checking whether or not it stopped recording. He picked up the brunet triplet, brushing away all traces of the offensive snow. “Hey, you’re okay. It’s just snow, Sora.” 

Ventus came over and took one of Sora’s hands in his. “I don’t think he likes the cold, Dad.” As if he was trying to emphasize this point, Sora buried his face into Squall’s coat. Oh boy, it was going to be so much fun cleaning out the snot later. 

“No, I don’t think he does.” 

“Roxy likes it! And he got pushed into the snow!” Van proudly announced. He was kneeling in front of Roxas, holding the baby under his armpits and helping him stand under Cloud’s careful supervision (because the ground was slick, he didn’t want either child getting hurt). The baby thought it was all fun, bouncing so low that his black and white snowsuit touched the ground. “Hey! If you keep doing that I’m going to let you fall!” He didn’t.

“Everyone’s different, Van.” Cloud said softly. Roxas kept bouncing, his excitement bubbling out in loud gales of laughter. Xion, giving up on her mission of trying to capture snow, went crawling into Cloud’s lap so she could squeal back at Roxas. “Just because Roxas and Xion like the snow, doesn’t mean that Sora has to.” 

It was too bad that they had put the phone away.  _ This  _ was what they would want to see years down the line; Cloud kneeling on the ground, his pants slowly getting wet, as he had a giggling Xion in his lap. Vanitas grinning and playing with a very excited, bouncing Roxas. Ventus cooing and making faces at Sora in an attempt to cheer him up as he sniffled in Squall’s arms…

Gods, call him emotional, but in ten years Ven and Van would probably be  _ mortified  _ if they brought this moment up, video or not. In ten years, would they still be the sweet and caring (for the most part) boys that they were now? Would-

A handful of bitingly cold snow was shoved into his face. 

“Stop thinking so loud.” 

“I’m not-” Apparently, Cloud wasn’t in an argumentative mood. He tugged at the lapels of Squall’s coat and pulled him into a kiss. Nothing too heated or too chaste, but it was enough to efficiently shut Squall up...and get the twins gagging. 

“Yuck, Dad and Daddy are being gross Roxy!” Vanitas yelled, trying to cover Roxas’s blue eyes to shield him from the horror that was their parents kissing. 

“Do you hear that Squall? He thinks we’re gross.” Cloud smirks. 

Squall mirrored the look. “I think we should show them how gross we can be.”

And thus their game begins. Cloud chased after all their children, one at a time, scooping them up with both arms and peppering their faces with loud, smacking kisses and raspberries and bringing them to Squall so he could do the same. He had tried putting Sora down, but the second his feet got close to the snow, the baby started wailing. Squall resigned himself to his fate of holding Sora until they went inside-something that had turned into an advantage as he got Sora to give his brothers and sister (and his Daddy) open mouthed, slobbery kisses.

“At least he isn’t crying anymore.” Was what Squall said to console Ven when Sora’s drool dribbled down and under his scarf before he could wipe it off. Ven glared at him, then with an evil look that was eerily to Cloud’s, he managed to get Sora to turn on him. 

“Sora, get Dada!” And Sora, the tiny little traitor, bounced on Squall like he was a trampoline and  _ licked  _ his face. 

*

Later, after the older kids down mugs of hot chocolate and all five of the kids fell asleep in a pile on the living room floor while their parents cuddled up beside them to watch some cheesy Christmas movie, Squall would pull out his phone and look at the video. He and Cloud would laugh at their children’s antics-even when they had to rush to turn down the volume when Video Sora screamed.

He would send it to everyone who he knew would get a kick out of it...which was basically every he knew (bar a certain few). He’d get responses back almost immediately, phone a constant buzz of new messages, but wouldn’t look at them right away. For how could he pay any attention to his phone when Cloud’s head drooped onto his shoulder as the blond succumbed to sleep as their children had? How could he tears his eyes away from the soft locks of hair that were moving with Cloud’s gentle breathing? 

No, he would sit there on the floor with an arm around his dozing husband and a leg dangerously close to their most restless sleeper (Sora) and marvel at how freaking lucky he was.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, this was supposed to be the first chapter of the advent, but I didn't finish it in time.


	4. Day 4: Baking cookies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> update 2/2 for the night because i'm mcfreaking tired

‘This is an easy recipe’ Aerith had said.

‘Idiot proof.’ Tifa added.

_ ‘Squall  _ Proof.’ Cid and Yuffie corrected. 

Everyone just  _ loved  _ to make fun of him for his lack of baking skills. He could cook just fine-no one had died yet so that was good. But baking? You’d think he’s be decent at it since baking was about preciseness and numbers.  _ Nope _ . 

There was no need to keep the fire department on speed dial though, holy shit he wasn’t  _ that  _ bad. 

This was all Van and Ven’s ideas anyway. ‘Daddy works  _ so  _ hard! We should surprise him!’ Yes, surprise him with salmonella since that had all been a ploy to just eat raw cookie dough by the spoonful. 

“Vanitas, stop eating the dough or you won’t get a cookie.” Or maybe eating a cookie  _ would  _ be a punishment. The bottoms were black and hard, sticking to the metal sheet as if they were meant to be one object. Squall may or may not have broken one sheet trying to separate them (he definitely bent it).

Vanitas picked up a cookie and experimentally slid it across the counter like it was a hockey puck. It fell, not even breaking when it hit the floor. “ _ Oh no _ , I won’t get a cookie. That’s so sad.” Their oldest was such a charming, sarcastic little shithead. Traits that both Cloud and Squall were responsible for. So he really shouldn’t be  _ this  _ angry at the comment. “Van!” He snapped. “Go pick it up!” 

…

“Dad, Vani’s eating more dough.”

“Are not!”

“Are too!”

“ _ Vanitas _ .”

…

It was this scene that Cloud walked into, one that he never really entertained as a possibility: Vanitas and Ventus being physically separated by Squall, all three of them yelling at one another as smoke billowed from the stove. Seriously, this shit only happened on film.

“Do I need to put all three of you in time-out?” 

Squall’s mouth snapped shut. “You’re home early.” He said, though it may as well have been an accusation. 

“I’m sorry I live here? I got out of work early and I wanted to see my darling kids and my husband, but it seems like they aren’t here. Have you heathens seen them?” 

“Very funny asshole.” The brunet twin used Squall’s momentary distraction to break free of his hold, dodging his father’s hand and scooping up as much dough as his wooden spoon could handle before running out of the room. “You  _ could  _ have stopped him.” Squall grumbled. 

“I could have, but I didn’t.” Cloud walked into the kitchen like it was a warzone….which wasn’t too far off if they were being honest. But that didn’t mean that Cloud needed to look at everything like it was secretly trying to kill him. “Is there a reason you decided to make-uh-cupcakes?”

“There supposed to be cookies.”

“ _ Yikes _ .” 

“Hn.” 

“We were making cookies for you, Daddy!” Ven glared at the piles of charcoal with as much anger and distrust as a child his age could muster (which was a lot). “They tasted better as dough though.” 

The older blond nodded, ruffling Ven’s spikes with one hand. “Thanks, kid. That was a real nice thing to do-even if they didn’t turn out how you wanted.” He turned to Squall-who’s offended look could have caught the cookies on fire...again. “Do you want help cleaning up?” 

“I...yeah, I don’t think we’ll be able to salvage any of these.” 

“Arlight.” Cloud snatched the bowl from the countertop and ran to the doorway Van had gone through, all the while ignoring Squall’s sputtering. “Come on you two, we shouldn’t let all this perfectly good cookie dough go to waste. We can clean up later.” 

Ven was up and at Cloud’s side before he had gotten halfway through his sentence. Squall on the other hand just looked at him like he was crazy. “Do you  _ see  _ the state of our kitchen? I’m not going to just leave it!” 

“Do you see the state  _ you’re  _ in? You need a break, Squall. Even if it’s just for twenty minutes. The mess will still be here when you get back.” Damn logic. He  _ was  _ in a state. The acrid smoke had burned his eyes, making them red and watery. He was covered in sweat and flour and charcoal and some disgusting combination of all three. His arms ached, his head was throbbing, and he was pretty sure that if he saw another cookie he’d end up throwing the tray out of the window. 

Yeah...a break was probably a good idea. 

Cloud and Ven were gone by the time Squall decided to join them. He found them curled on the couch with Van, all sticking their fingers into the bowl and relieving it of its contents. He picked up Van, placing the squawking child onto his lap so he could sit beside his husband. 

“Van, what do you need to say to Dad?” Cloud asked around a mouthful of dough.

“...Sorry for being a pain.” 

Squall kissed the top of his spiky head. “It’s okay. Thank you for apologizing. I’m sorry I lost my temper.” 

“It’s okay, Dad. I think next time we should just make cookie dough and not bake it.”   


Both parents chuckle but aren’t dumb enough to agree to that. Instead they ruffle Van’s hair and went back to the contents of the bowl. 

...Holy shit, the cookie dough was freaking  _ good _ .  

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! :D
> 
> Some facts about this AU:  
> Rinoa is the biological mother to all of the kids and carried all of them. Squall is the biological father of Vanitas, Sora and Xion while Cloud is the biological father of Ventus and Roxas. They went through In Vitro both times because Rinoa has the money for it and she loves her boys, okay? That's why both pregnancies ended in multiple babies. 
> 
> Vanitas is the oldest by five minutes.
> 
> Cloud and Cid are cousins, Cid practically raised Cloud. 
> 
> The kids call Squall 'Dad' and Cloud 'Daddy' or 'Pops' (when they get older they switch to Pops, Cloud will never admit how hurt he felt when Vanitus tells him only babies call their dads Daddy [but it's followed with 'Pops is cooler anyway' so it lessens the blow]) 
> 
> Sora's the oldest triplet, Roxas is the middle child, and Xion is the youngest (their birthday is March 28th)
> 
> I put too much thought into this AU guys, you don't understand


End file.
